Vega Jane and the Maze of Monsters Read online

  I slumped down in my chair. Delph, however, remained rigid in his.

  ‘She is a sorely tried female,’ he observed.

  ‘She’s sorely tried? What about us? We’re going to be here until we’re dead.’

  ‘Lot of sorrow in her, Vega. Easy to see.’

  ‘I think she’s evil!’

  ‘She’s not like Thorne. He woulda just killed us and put our bones on his wall. Not keep us fed with a roof over our heads.’

  I supposed Delph was right about this, though our bones would end up here eventually, I thought miserably. ‘Well, Astrea said we had the run of the cottage and the land inside the dome.’

  ‘So, what do we do with that?’ asked Delph.

  ‘We are not staying here, Delph. Thorne couldn’t stop us and neither will Astrea Prine. We are escaping this place.’

  ‘OK, but how do we do that?’

  ‘I say we start with Archie.’

  19

  LOOKING BACK

  Delph and Harry Two followed me down the hall. I opened the door to the room and walked in. We gathered at the side of the bed and looked down.

  I said solemnly, ‘This is Archie Prine, Astrea’s son.’

  Delph gazed at the shrunken man in total bewilderment. While I had explained to Delph about the elixir, it was altogether something else to see it for yourself.

  I pulled up a chair and sat down next to the bed.

  ‘Hello, Archie,’ I said softly, hoping to rouse him gently from his sleep.

  He stirred and his eyes slowly opened. He blinked, but though he’d seen me before, no recognition came to his features.

  ‘I’m Vega. And these are my friends, Delph and Harry Two.’

  Archie kept his gaze on me. I bent lower.

  ‘We’ve come to stay with you and Astrea.’

  ‘Y-you . . . h-have?’ he croaked.

  I nodded. ‘She told me about you. And her. And this place.’

  ‘Sh-she . . . did?’

  I nodded again. ‘She said you’d grown tired of taking the elixir.’

  ‘S-sacrifice.’ He shook his head and when he tried to sit up, Delph and I helped him. Now he was looking at us from a far more comfortable position.

  ‘Sacrifice,’ I said. ‘And the Battle of the Beasts. And Bastion Cadmus.’ I was saying these things in the hopes that something would jog Archie’s memory.

  ‘Load-a t-tosh,’ he said. ‘Beasts? P-piffle.’

  ‘That’s right. Astrea said so too. She said there was a war, though. But I don’t know anything about who your lot fought in it.’

  Archie gasped and pointed to a cup of water on the bedside table. Delph grabbed the cup and handed it to me. I helped Archie drink from it, wiping away some drops that dribbled into his beard.

  He sat back and cleared his throat. ‘Ma-Mal-Maladons.’

  ‘Maladons?’ I said, shooting Delph a glance. ‘So, you fought them?’

  He nodded and a tear slid down his cheek. ‘F-fought. And l-lost. W-we . . . lost.’

  Delph exclaimed, ‘You mean your lot got beaten?’

  Archie slowly nodded. ‘Fled here. H-hiding. M-mice in a h-hole.’ In a moment of anger, he turned and spat on the floor before resettling against his pillow. ‘C-cowards.’

  Delph and I exchanged disturbed glances.

  I said, ‘And you knew Bastion Cadmus?’

  ‘Our l-leader. K-killed.’

  He swallowed funny and then started to cough. I gave him some more water.

  ‘D-Dad wanted to keep f-fighting. B-but M-Mum . . .’ He shook his head. ‘K-Keeper. What’s th-the p-point? K-Keeper. S-sacrifice. What’s the p-p-point?’ He looked up at me with pleading eyes. ‘E-eh?’ he said. ‘Eh?’

  I didn’t know how to answer him. He closed his eyes and a moment later we heard his gentle snores.

  We rose and quietly left the room.

  When we got to my room, Delph, his eyes as big as saucers, said, ‘Blimey! Maladons. War and killin’.’

  ‘And hiding,’ I added. ‘Like mice in a hole.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Don’t you get it, Delph? They created Wormwood as a hiding place. Because these Maladon blokes were trying to hunt them down. And they conjured the Quag around it to keep them out.’

  ‘And to keep us in,’ Delph added. ‘Like the Wall round Wormwood.’

  We looked at each other. I’m sure what I saw in Delph’s features mirrored my own – complete and utter despair.

  I said, ‘Astrea wanted to know about Virgil. What he was planning, whether I had talked to him.’

  ‘How could you when he’s been gone since you were a wee thing?’

  ‘He’s a powerful sorcerer. An Excalibur, in fact. Which means he’s always known everything, including things Astrea has withheld from us.’

  ‘I guess that explains a lot. So, what do we do?’ asked Delph.

  ‘Keep learning things. It’s all we can do, for now.’

  ‘But if we’re never to leave here, what does it matter?’

  ‘The truth always matters, Delph.’

  That night during a sumptuous meal that Delph and I lingered over, I drew up the courage to ask Astrea a question.

  ‘Can you show us Wormwood? In your Seer-See?’

  ‘Why?’ she asked suspiciously as she took a sip of her tea.

  I glanced at Delph, who immediately attended to his custard. He might’ve been thinking about Astrea sticking him to the ceiling.

  ‘Well, since we’re going to be here forever and everything, it would be nice to see our home.’ I added quickly, ‘I don’t suppose you’d let us go back there. We’d promise never to enter the Quag again.’

  I was lying, of course. I would never stay in Wormwood, not now.

  She set her cup down. ‘Let you go back to Wormwood? Knowing what you do now? Do I look foolish to you?’ She glanced down at her wand, which lay beside her plate. ‘Although, I could wipe away your minds, of course. Then you could return. Would you like me to do that?’ She raised her wand.

  ‘Er, no,’ I said quickly.

  ‘I l-like my m-mind where it is,’ added Delph.

  Well, I thought, she had certainly called my bluff. ‘But can we at least see our home?’ I pleaded.

  She contemplated this for a few moments and then rose.

  A sliver later, we were in the room with the two cups on the table. Astrea did what she had done before, only this time with the other cup. I had to hold Delph back when the flaming liquid shot across the table.

  ‘Wormwood,’ said Astrea simply, with a wave of her hand.

  And there it truly was.

  The cobblestones, the old buildings. There were Wugs I knew walking about. Hestia Loon, her shopping bag in hand. Herman Helvet at his window. With a rush of excitement, I saw mighty Thansius marching purposefully along.

  He passed by another Wug I knew, Julius Domitar, who ran Stacks. He was tottering along seemingly three sheets to the wind. He raised a shaky hand in greeting to Thansius. Then another Wug came into view.

  ‘Me dad,’ cried out Delph.

  Sure enough, there was Duf Delphia making his way on his twin timbertoes.

  I brightened and looked at Delph. ‘He looks good. Happy.’

  But my smile faded, for Delph didn’t look happy, only homesick. I reached over and took his hand and squeezed it. He looked down at me and attempted a smile, but I knew his heart wasn’t in it. It was a lot – to be kept from your family. I knew that.

  I looked back at the tabletop when I heard the clattering sound of hooves on cobbles. Morrigone’s blue carriage! As I watched, the driver, Thomas Bogle, reined the sleps to a stop.

  The carriage door opened and out stepped Morrigone.

  ‘She don’t look like herself, does she?’ said Delph, who was watching over my shoulder.

  Morrigone had always been tall and queenly, perfect in mind and body. Before our differences, I had admired her. I had wanted to emulate her. But this Morrigone was different.

  She didn’t seem as tall. Her hair, normally blood-red with every strand in harmony with its neighbour, was now dishevelled and thinning, the lustre gone. Her face looked sessions older, with lines and sags prominent. Her body had a sunken appearance – fragile where she had always been robust.

  I glanced at Astrea. She had a puzzled look on her face. This was startling to me because it was the first time I had ever glimpsed uncertainty in her features.

  ‘What’s wrong with Morrigone?’ I asked.

  She shook her head slightly. ‘She . . . she looks a bit tired is all.’

  I looked back at the image and saw someone else step out of the carriage.

  It was my brother, John. And though Delph and I had not been gone from Wormwood very long, John also looked different.

  His step was brisk, his manner authoritative and supremely confident. And, dare I even think it, cruel? But then again, he had been cruel to the Wugs working on the Wall.

  I said, ‘My brother became very different under Morrigone’s tutelage.’

  ‘Different how?’ she asked. But when I looked at her, I could tell she already knew the answer.

  ‘He was sweet and innocent. And then he wasn’t,’ I said bluntly. ‘What did she do to him?’

  She didn’t answer right away. ‘’Tis complicated.’

  ‘’Tis my brother,’ I shot back. ‘The answer should be simple.’

  Fierce emotions building large in my chest and head, I walked out. Then I started to run. I sprinted through the cottage and out the front door. I sped down the crazy-angled path, across the grass, and, with Destin around my waist, I took to the air and flew straight at the emerald dome.

  I don’t remember anything after that.

  20

  WORDS

&nbs
p; Whenever I’d been knocked out before, Delph was always there.

  This time he wasn’t.

  Instead, Astrea stared down at me.

  I blinked and slowly looked around. I was in my room on the bed.

  Astrea didn’t look unduly worried. ‘I suppose you had to try it.’

  I sat up and rubbed my head. ‘What happened?’

  ‘You hit the dome and the dome did not give. You did.’

  I said nothing to this, both my hurt pride and a rising anger making me mute. Before I could say anything more, she broke the silence.

  ‘I understand that you talked to Archie?’

  ‘You said we could go where we wanted,’ I said testily.

  ‘And what did he tell you?’

  Ignoring her query, I said, ‘I feel sorry for him.’

  ‘Why? He’s lived a good, long life.’

  ‘He’s lived a long life. I’m not sure how good it’s been.’

  She looked like I’d slapped her, which bolstered my spirits greatly.

  ‘I’m sure I don’t know what you mean,’ she said icily.

  ‘Archie spoke of sacrifice. Whose sacrifice? His? Because he didn’t really have a choice, did he? Or his father? Or your other children? You made the decision for all of them. Just like you’re doing with us.’

  ‘You know nothing whatever about it, Vega. You’re throwing out words that make absolutely no sense because you are ignorant of the facts.’

  ‘Well, they’d make sense to Archie, I’m sure. I mean he’s the one who has lived all this time and never really lived at all. That’s probably why he’s so bitter. And who can blame him, really?’

  I wanted to make her hurt. I wanted to make her feel . . . something for what she was doing to us. For taking our lives away too.

  ‘I thought I understood you, Vega. Now I know that I don’t at all.’

  ‘It’s quite simple, really. You’ve taken my life away and I’m not happy about it. I’m sure you’d feel the same.’

  ‘For the greater good, it—’

  ‘Please don’t try and justify it. It’s like the lie about the Battle of the Beasts. What did Archie call that? Oh, right, piffle. So, that’s what your greater good is. Piffle. I’m sure Alice Adronis would have seen it the same way. She died as a warrior. Not as a mouse in a hidey-hole. So, that’s what you are, Astrea, despite all your grand power. A frightened mouse in a dirty little hole.’

  I never took my gaze off her as I said all this. And I said it in the maddeningly calm tone she had employed with me the whole time I’d been here.

  ‘You are a stupid Wug,’ she snapped.

  ‘Alice didn’t think so. She gave me the Elemental. She told me that I had to survive. If you call me stupid, then you’re calling your best friend stupid as well.’

  Astrea got up and left without speaking another word.

  Delph immediately burst into the room with Harry Two in tow.

  ‘You OK?’ he said anxiously while Harry Two leaped up on to the bed and licked my hand.

  ‘I’m OK. What actually happened?’

  ‘Found you knocked out on the ground, didn’t we?’

  ‘I tried to get through the dome. I knew it was stupid. But I . . . I . . .’

  ‘Just wanted to get out of this place,’ Delph finished for me.

  I sighed and lay back against my pillow.

  I gripped Delph’s hand. ‘We will get out of here. We will. I swear it.’

  He met my eye, but I could tell he didn’t completely share my optimism.

  ‘Course we will,’ he said, tacking a smile on to the end of his words.

  I sat up and hugged him. It was just us against, well, everything. But for some reason, I felt like we had a chance, a fighting chance. I’d never asked for anything more than that. I got off the bed and shook the collywobbles from my head.

  ‘You saw what was happening?’ I asked.

  ‘What, you mean in Wormwood? Morrigone? John?’

  I nodded. ‘Astrea was shocked by how Morrigone looked. Something is going on. But she doesn’t know what. And it’s scaring her.’

  ‘Well, if it’s scaring the likes of her, we ought to be terrified, I reckon.’

  I could always count on Delph for spot-on observations. But terrified or not, I didn’t come into the Quag to finish my life as a prisoner. Every part of my body was burning with one desire.

  To be free.

  The next light, we cornered Seamus outside the kitchen. The little hob had kept his distance from us ever since Astrea declared us to be prisoners.

  ‘So, can you leave if you want, Seamus?’ I asked, as Delph and Harry Two hovered in the background.

  He looked at me nervously, his huge eyes twitching. ‘I don’t knowsey what yousies is talki—’

  ‘Seamus!’ I said warningly.

  Harry Two gave a low, throaty growl that I could tell was making the hob very anxious.

  ‘I can go if I want to,’ he said warily. ‘But you can’t.’

  I studied him closely. ‘Seamus, why do I think that meeting you in the cave was not a coincidence?’

  I could tell right away from the look on his face that I was right. He blustered and denied and blustered some more, but I persisted and would not let him leave.

  ‘Well, it might not have been,’ he finally conceded.

  ‘Because Astrea sent you?’

  He looked around cautiously before giving a brief nod of his large head.

  ‘And the flying creature that made me run into the cave?’

  ‘Well, she might have sent that too.’

  ‘And the cloud that took Delph away?’ I added bitterly. ‘She conjured that too, didn’t she? Didn’t she!’

  Seamus slowly nodded, though I had never seen him look so frightened.

  Delph said, ‘But why?’

  I glanced at him before looking back at Seamus. ‘Because Astrea saw us in the Seer-See. She was afraid we might make it across the Quag. She manipulated things so Seamus and I would meet. And one thing led to another and then here we are – prisoners forever.’

  Seamus gave a resigned sigh. ‘She is very powerful, is Madame Prine.’

  I leaned in closer to the hob. ‘Well, you know what?’

  ‘What?’ he said, his eyes as huge as supper plates.

  I snarled, ‘I’m powerful too.’

  Later, I led Delph to the library. My thought was that in some of the books, we might find things that would better explain what Archie had already told us. If there was a terrible war between our kind and these Maladon blokes, someone had to have chronicled it somewhere.

  I told Delph to start at one end and I would begin at the other. However, it was not to be. I reached for a book and tugged. It would not come out. I tried with both hands. The same result. I looked over at Delph, who had one big foot placed against the front of the shelf as he pulled with all his might on one thick volume, before letting go.

  ‘It’s Astrea’s doing,’ I said, my fury rising. ‘She doesn’t want us finding out anything else from the books. Which, of course, means that these books do explain things.’

  I gazed longingly at the thick tomes. Just inches from my hand and they were of no use to me. Their pages might as well have been blank.

  We went to Archie’s room. When I tried to open the door, it screamed at me, ‘GO AWAY!’

  ‘Holy Steeples,’ said Delph, who had jumped nearly to the ceiling, though I didn’t because I was used to this ‘greeting’, though not at Archie’s door.

  ‘Well,’ I said. ‘It seems that Astrea is certainly limiting our run of the cottage. Which is actually a good thing.’

  ‘Why do you say that?’ asked a stunned Delph. ‘She’s afraid we might find something useful. Which means there’s something useful here.’

  But as much thought as I had given to this, the way we would get out was one thing I had never even considered.

  21

  THE SIGN

  I didn’t mean to intrude upon her. But I simply walked in and there was Astrea looking at her Seer-See. In the image was Morrigone, still looking bedraggled. She was waving her hands around as she had done when performing magic. I didn’t know what she was doing until Astrea waved her wand over the image and it rippled as though someone had tossed a handful of pebbles in a bucket of water.

  Morrigone nodded and lowered her hands.

  Now I understood.

  They were communicating. And then I knew that Morrigone must have told Astrea all about me and to be on the lookout. That I could do a bit of magic, that I had learned some of the truth about Wormwood and that I had escaped from Morrigone and Wormwood. My anger at Astrea increased a thousandfold. She had led me right into her trap.